Conventionally, combination weighing apparatuses are installed in various places and used. In the combination weighing apparatus, it is important to set an appropriate operating condition thereof and log an operating state thereof in order to maintain a normal operation of the weighing apparatus, avoid a failure thereof, or quickly restore the apparatus from the failure.
In actuality, however, in the conventional combination weighing apparatus, to obtain setting information of the operating condition or a log of the operating state, a person in charge goes to a place where the combination weighing apparatus is installed and brings back data printed out by a printer or the like to a center, or an operator present at the installation place sends the printed-out data to the center via facsimile, mail, or the like.
To change setting of the condition operating, there has been conventionally adopted a method in which the person in charge carries the printed-out data to the installation place of the combination weighing apparatus and inputs the data into a control portion of the combination weighing apparatus or sends the data to the installation place via facsimile, mail, or the like, or the operator inputs data values given by a telephone or the like.
However, in the above-described conventional method, the following three problems arise. The first problem is that it takes some time the person in charge to go to the installation place of the weighing apparatus or the operator to print out the data and send it via facsimile, mail, or the like, and the weighing using the combination weighing apparatus cannot be carried out when trouble occurs.
The second problem, which is associated with the above, is that a labor cost of the person in charge, a traveling expense of the person in charge, a mailing cost, and so forth are needed.
The third problem is that the person in charge or the operator sometimes makes a mistake or skips some data in inputting set values for the operating condition due to the fact that he/she inputs data while seeing the data written on a paper.